Causing A Causal Loop
by bluekiwibubble
Summary: The planet Ijij, year 784442. The Doctor's been here before, and it's something to do with Turlough.FourTurlough, FiveTurlough.


**Title**: Causing A Causal Loop  
**Author**: bluekiwibubble  
**Fandom**: Doctor Who (4, 5)  
**Pairing**: Five/Turlough, Four/Turlough  
**Rating**: 12  
**Word Count**: 1347  
**Prompt**: Livejournal comm. Varietypack100 #23 Lovers  
**Summary**: The planet Ijij, year 78#4442. The Doctor's been here before, and it's something to do with Turlough.  
**Notes**: My first old school fic.

Turlough pushed open the door into the pub and stomped over to the bar. Looking round, he saw that the place was full of the indigenous Ijiji, who were humanoid in appearance, only with the distinguishing characteristics of blue skin and triangular heads. There appeared to be only three customers, other than Turlough himself, who weren't Ijiji; a pair of Trees of the Forest of Cheem talked together at the other end of the bar, and in a corner sat a man in a large coat and a long, multi-coloured scarf.  
That had to be the Doctor.  
Steepling his fingers, Turlough scrutinised the man. How could the Doctor, the normal Doctor, say that Turlough would cheat on him with this...stranger? Even if this man _was_ a previous regeneration of the Doctor? But in that case, why had the Doctor seemed so upset about this whole thing - surely he couldn't be _jealous_ of himself?  
Turlough frowned. He'd been accused of something he hadn't done (yet, at any rate) - been blamed for it, even. If the Doctor was going to blame him, then he might as well do it. Even if - especially if, he thought savagely - it upset the Doctor.  
Turlough made his way over to the Doctor and sat down beside him, looping an arm around his shoulders. The Doctor greeted him bleary, and Turlough smirkingly noticed the empty ginger beer bottles scattered over the table. He leaned towards the Doctor and murmured, motioning to the barman,  
'Let me get you another drink.'

'Where are we?' Turlough asked, resting his chin on the Doctor's shoulder to try and read the time monitor on the console. The Doctor reached past him to flick a switch, and the viewer screen opened showing that the TARDIS had landed in a field just outside a small, quiet-looking town made up of bizarre triangular-shaped buildings.  
'The planet Ijij, year 78#4442 by the local calendar. 1998 Earth time.' The Doctor frowned, and muttered to himself, 'Ijij, '#4442...' He pushed the door switch and, extricating himself from Turlough, strode out of the TARDIS, turning in a circle to get a good look at his surroundings. Turlough hurried out after the Doctor just in time to hear him say bemusedly, 'I've been here before.'  
'What, at same time?'  
'Yes, which shouldn't happen; I'm not meant to be in the same time and place as my other selves. I can't remember very well, but I think I landed on the over side of town last time.'  
'What do you mean, you can't remember?'  
The Doctor was staring out across the town with his eyebrows knitted and gave no answer, but Turlough grasped the Doctor's shoulder and pulled him round so that they were standing face to face, and asked urgently, 'Doctor, what do you mean?'  
The Doctor looked down at Turlough as though he hadn't noticed him there before and gave a faint smile. He gave the Trion's arm an affectionate squeeze.  
'Exactly what I said. I've been here before, but I can hardly remember it. Although I _do_ seem to recall,' he added as an afterthought, 'That the Ijiji make _excellent_ ginger beer.'  
'What's that got to do with you not being able to remember?' Turlough demanded.  
'Perhaps everything,' the Doctor replied seriously, 'Ginger beer can have a rather intoxicating effect on Time Lords.'  
Turlough laughed.  
'You mean you were drunk.'  
'Yes...' The Doctor's voice trailed off. 'Although I'm sure something happened _whilst_ I was drunk.'  
'Really?' asked Turlough ironically, raising an eyebrow.  
The Doctor was frowning in concentration, trying to remember.

'I woke up in...not the TARDIS...a field, yes, that was it. And there was something to do with a man I...met in the bar. And then the field.'  
Turlough was looking at the Doctor, one eyebrow still raised but his eyes dark. The Doctor, oblivious to his companion's glare, continued muttering to himself. 'So what happened in between? I'd...and then...so...ahh...' His voice faded into silence as his memory finally gave up the recollections it had been withholding. The Doctor focused on Turlough, frowning hard as though trying to place his face. Then his eyes widened, recognition and shock flashing across them. He frowned again, they way he did whenever he was thinking quickly, and addressed Turlough.  
'It was you.' The Doctor's voice sounded uncharacteristicly strict, almost accusatory, and Turlough was utterly bewildered.  
'What?'  
'The man when I was here before; it was you.' It was amazing how the Doctor managed to say something in a voice that was so matter of fact yet still incriminating.  
The Doctor turned away, walking back towards the TARDIS, but Turlough followed, darting in front of him to block the TARDIS door and demanded angrily  
'How can it be me! What do you mean?'  
The Doctor answered coldly.  
'You need to go into the town. You'll find me in the pub.'  
'But -'  
The Doctor pushed past Turlough into the TARDIS and shut the door, blocking out the sound of his companion's protestation. Unhappy about the turn of events, but knowing it had to happen, he gloomily began to fiddle with the console.

Outside, Turlough stared at the closed door in disbelief, then turned on his heel and strode angrily across the field towards the town.

Turlough shoved himself up onto his elbows. Next to him, the Doctor lay snoring, his curls fanned out on the grass behind his head. Sitting up, Turlough began to look for his clothes.

The Doctor was still asleep. Straightening his tie, Turlough looked down at the Time Lord lying in the grass. This Doctor looked older than the one he knew, and Turlough didn't think much of the hair or the eccentric outfit...although the scarf _had_ to proved to be an interestingly versatile piece of clothing. Idly throwing the Doctor's coat over the sleeping figure, Turlough started back off across the field towards the town, allowing himself a small, savagely triumphant smirk.

The Doctor glanced up from fiddling with the console as Turlough entered the TARDIS. The Trion walked over to lean casually on one of the control banks opposite him.  
'Did you have a good time?' the Doctor asked, surprising Turlough with the sincerity of his tone.  
'Yes.' Turlough eyed him suspiciously, and added, 'So did you.'  
The Doctor bent back over the instrument panel to hide his smile, but he wasn't quick enough.  
'You did it on purpose!'  
The Doctor tried to look innocent, but failed, and gave in to a grin as Turlough continued. 'You pretended to be angry, just so that I'd go and...' Turlough tailed off, and the Doctor's grin widened.  
'You wouldn't have done it otherwise.'  
'You've created a predestination paradox, a causal loop! If you hadn't got me to do it I wouldn't have done it, and then it wouldn't have happened in the first place! And you could have just asked me.'  
'And would you really have agreed?' The Doctor, choosing to ignore his companions's accusation, stared, eyebrows raised, at Turlough, who looked away shamefaced.  
There followed a slightly awkward silence, eventually broken by Turlough, struggling for something to say, asking  
'Was that really you?'  
'Yes.' The Doctor flicked a row of switches, causing the background hum of the TARDIS to grow fainter, and asked offhandedly, 'What did you think?'  
'Of you in that regeneration?' Turlough made a show of looking the Doctor up and down. 'I prefer the current one.' He noted with amusement that the Doctor's down-turned face had gone slightly red at the compliment. For a few minutes, a calculating expression on his face, he watched the Doctor doing who-knows-what to the TARDIS controls, then, wandering nonchalantly around the console towards the Doctor, he spoke.  
'Doctor...'  
The Doctor looked up.  
'Yes?'  
'Do you still have that scarf?'  
There was a glint in Turlough's eye that for some reason unnerved the Doctor, and so he asked warily,  
'Why?'  
In reply, Turlough looked up at the Doctor, and smirked lasciviously.  
The Doctor laid a hand on Turlough's shoulder and spoke nonchalantly.  
'Well, I'm sure I've still got it lying around somewhere...'


End file.
